mgo.licio.us

"The face of the operation is Briatore (referred to exclusively in the film by his colleagues and angry, chanting detractors as "Flavio"), an anthropomorphic radish who spends most of his time at QPR plotting to fire all of the managers."

At press time, Harbaugh had sent Michigan’s athletic department an envelope containing a heavily annotated seating chart, a list of the 63,000 seat views he had found unsatisfactory, and a glowing 70-page report on section 25, row 12, seat 9, which he claimed is “exactly what the great sport of football is all about.”

When they beat us at home in 1995 it was a punch in the face. They were historically horrid for centuries and all of a sudden they beat ND in the first week then come to Ann Arbor and beat us.

And then the next year we blew a big lead in Evanston. 2 straight losses to a bunch of nerds that we used to beat 42-10 year in and year out.

So, I'd say that 1995 was the shock of losing to a shit team. 1996 was the shock of reality that they were at least competitive. And 2000 was the shock that they were actually here to stay (along with the gut punch way we lost). And 2008 was just fricken' cold, miserable, and sad to watch.

"the Spirit of Michigan...is based on a deathless loyalty to Michigan and all her ways....and a conviction that nowhere is there a better university, in any way, than this Michigan of ours" - Fielding Yost

Is it just me but I actually don't mind the guy. Homerism aside (from both parties) I do enjoy watching both him and Tony do their thing on PTI and they've done a great job over the years. Does he have his biases? Sure, but that's part of his role in my opinion, and he's not a complete jackass about it (see Baless, Skip and Cowherd, Colin)

I don't mind the guy most of the time. I rarely see him bash/hate on michigan the few times I catch the show. Everybody is going to have their biases. He could do a better job of hiding them, but he seems to be doing ok for himself.

Every unabashed fan of one school hates at least one other school. Most of us hate MSU and/or OSU. Alabama and Auburn hate each other. Etc. Wilbon is a columnist, not really a reporter, so who really cares if he hates Michigan? He went to Northwestern, and since Northwestern isn't very good at sports that anyone cares about, then not many people hate Northwestern.

He hates Michigan because Michigan is good at a lot of things, including academics. He can't feel superior over Michigan, and that seems to bother him. Oh well.

Wilbon bothers me much less than Cowherd and Jim Rome. He seems a bit more grounded & can admit when he's wrong at least (which, lets face it: if your job is to give opinions all day you are going to be wrong quite a bit). Cowherd and Rome actually seem to believe the crap they spew. I'll still listen to Cowherd now and then because at least he's entertaining. Rome is just obnoxious and not funny.

I think there was a thread about Wilbon hating Michigan a couple weeks ago. He's said that he hates Michigan out of respect or something like that. I believe Wilbon is an arrogant piece of shit due to how much name-dropping of his buddies goes on. Clearly wouldn't cut it as a Michigan Man so if he hates us, whatever.

EDIT: Question for anyone with more knowledge on the subject of Michigna/Northwestern. Is it normal for Northwestern fans to hate Michigan as much as Wilbon? Where does M lie on their hierarchy of rivalries? Thanks!

I've got degrees from both institutions. Northwestern doesn't have rivalries to the degree of any of Michigan's top three rivalries. Instead, NU's attitude toward other teams in the B1G is a strange mix of underdog challenge to established powers and smug assurance of intellectual superiority that combines Michigan arrogance with private school arrogance into a particularly obnoxious cocktail (see, regular chants of "state school/state school" for penalties called against other teams).

Illinois, if anyone, is NU's main rival, but it doesn't really generate much heat, largely because most students come to the school with no past alligence (and many with only passing familiarity with midwestern geography beyond "Chicago is south of Evanston.") To a certain segment of the Northwestern student fan base, all other schools in the B1G are basically the same: large public institutions to be viewed condescendingly.

I loved the education. Highly ambivalent about many of my fellow classmates. Which is true of most places, I suspect.

There was actually a joke about their 34 game losing streak (which apparently started when Wilbon was still in school - 1979), something like "Interstate 94, Northwestern 0", a play on the fact that I-94 runs just west of Evanston.

Growing up in the suburbs north of Chicago you quickly learn what a great school Northwestern is. It is amazing that in this modern age Nortwestern remains relevant in both football and basketball. One could have easily seen Northwestern athletics go the way of the Univ. Chicago, a former Big 10 power, still terrific academically, but not ESPN worthy.

When people like Wilbon flap their gums like this, I instantly think of the old Firesign Theater line, delivered by Nick Danger: "The great prince issues commands, founds states, vests families with fiefs. Inferior people should not be employed."